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Palmdale Deputy Arrests Felon in Possession of a Firearm

Deputy Aquino is a Palmdale Sheriff’s Station deputy who is assigned to handle the quality of life issues in the City of Palmdale. While he was patrolling in the area of 10th St East and Palmdale Boulevard, he conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle for a vehicle code violation. As the deputy was explaining to the driver his reason for the traffic stop, the driver appeared extremely nervous and made furtive movements to the side of his seat. Fearing the driver was reaching for a weapon, the deputy had the driver exit his vehicle. For his safety, the deputy conducted a pat down search for any weapons. The driver admitted to possessing drug paraphernalia on his person and was arrested.
While inventorying the vehicle, the deputy discovered a large amount of methamphetamine. The deputy recovered approximately 150 grams of methamphetamine which has a street value of approximately $2,000 and approximately 7,500 individual doses. Additional evidence was found in the vehicle which led the deputy to believe the driver possessed the methamphetamine for the purpose of sales.
Wedged, between the driver seat and the center console where the driver originally made affirmative movements, Deputy Aquino located a loaded .38 caliber revolver.
In reviewing the driver’s past history, it was discovered he had been previously convicted many felony crimes including robbery, brandishing of a firearm, transportation of a controlled substance and felon in possession of a firearm. The driver begged Deputy Aquino to “give him a break” because he had two strikes on his record and this was his fourth time being caught with an illegal possession of a firearm.
Deputy Aquino’s arrest is an exemplar of what Palmdale deputies do on a daily basis. His proactive police work made the community safer by arresting a felon before he targeted victims. A dangerous controlled substance never made it to the hands of a possible overdose victim and a firearm was removed from potentially being used in a robbery.